Television antenna



May 15, 1951 R. a. BOCK 9 TELEVISION ANTENNA Filed Nov. 15, 1948 2 SheetSSheet 1 \i LT IN V EN TOR.

n gw v 5% Z V IZ y 1951 R. e. BOCK 2,553,295

TELEVISION ANTENNA Filed Nov. 13, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 5e 62 52 K53 5'5 ft 51 Rig. 4.

IN VEN TOR.

Patented May 15, 195i UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TELEVISION ANTENNA Richard G. Bock, Chicago, Ill.

Application November 13, 1948, Serial No. 59,863

6 Claims.

This invention relates to a means for receiving ultra high frequency electrical impulses through the ether, such as antennae for receiving telecast messages or the like.

At the present time, it is customary to mount the antenna of a receiving instrument for telecast messages on an exposed, elevated surface, such as the roof of a building, a tower, or the like. The antenna itself is comprised of a plurality of rigid metallic rods, arranged in the form of a loop, having a general H section. The nature of the electrical impulses emitted from the telecasting station is such that they are highly directional and are influenced by any object which may be in their path. Thus, in order to receive strong, steady impulses, the antenna must be shifted vertically and/or horizontally until the impulses attain their optimum value. Since the location of each antenna is different with respect to the telecasting station and with respect to objects which may be present between the telecasting station and the antenna, considerable adjustment must be effected at the time the installation is made, in order to receive a reasonably clear and steady image in the receiving set.

Inasmuch as the receiving set is located within the building and usually a considerable distance from the antenna, it is readily appreciated that the adjustment of the antenna requires the combined efforts of at least two installation men, one located on the roof adjacent the antenna to adjust its position and the other at the receiving apparatus, so as to be able to observe the condition of the telecast image. Furthermore, some means of intercommunication between the two installation men must be used such as portable two-way radio apparatus.

Since the antenna and also the lead-in are exposed to the elements, there is a possibility at all times that they may be shifted slightly, due to wind, rain, snow, or the like, and each shift will more or less reflect itself in the quality of the image in the receiving set. It will also be appreciated that, if the antenna is adjusted tb receive one set of signals most clearly, it may not be properly adjusted for any other signals. Its location on a roof, or at any rate at a somewhat inaccessible point remote from the receiving apparatus, renders it impractical to shift the position of the antenna continuously so as to secure the optimum conditions for each telecasting station.

The principal object of this invention is to provide an improved antenna for receiving ultra high frequency electrical impulses, wherein the antenna is located in proximity to the receiving apparatus. Thus, the antenna may be adjusted by the same individual who is observing the image on the receiving screen.

Another object of this invention is to provide an antenna for receiving ultra high frequency electrical impulses wherein the antenna is mounted on means which permit the antenna to be adjusted to any angular position relative to the horizontal.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide an antenna for the reception of telecast signals, said antenna being sufiiciently small to be readily enclosed in either a room or a cabinet or, alternatively, may be mounted on a door or swinging panel which conceals the antenna and forms a decorative part of the room in which the receiving set is located.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide an antenna for receiving telecast signals, said antenna being simple to install, adjustable, and inexpensive to make.

. These and other objects of this invention will become apparent from the following detailed description when taken together with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. l is a perspective View of a portion of a room, showing a receiver for telecast signals and. the novel antenna mounted in proximity to the receiver;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the antenna and the mounting means therefor;

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the antenna and its mounting means;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary enlarged perspective of a portion of the antenna showing how the electrical conduit is supported; and

Fig. 5 is a wiring diagram of the antenna.

Referring now to Fig. 1 for a detailed description of the invention, there is shown in general a receiving set ID for receiving ultra high fre-v quency electrical impulses, such as are sent by telecasting stations, said receiver having a screen II on which the received image appears and a plurality of adjusting knobs I2, by which the receiving station may be tuned to the desired telecasting station. The details of construction of the receiving set are not material to the functioning of this invention and hence are not described here in detail. Said receiving station l0 may be located against a wall l3 of a room, having on an adjacent Wall [4 thereof a; door I5 which may lead 3 3) which permit the door to be swung in substantially a 180 arc in the room.

The antenna in the embodiment chosen for i1- lustration is mounted on the inside of the door [5, that is, the side facing into the other room or closet. Referring now to Figs. 2 and 3, the antenna is comprised of a frame I1, having a general H shape, with the sides l8 and 19 of the H substantially horizontal and the cross bar 26 substantially vertical. Said frame I! is made of any suitable rigid material, such as wood, composition, or the like, preferably having electrically non-conducting properties. Said frame 11 is pivotally mounted on door I by means of hinges 2| secured to the side I9. The axis of the hinges 2| is in general at right angles to the axis of the hinges 16, so that by swinging door. I5 about its hinges l5 and swinging frame I! about hinges 2|, said frame l'|' may be made to assume any desired angle with respect to the horizontal and vertical. 1

The means for adjusting frame I! angularly with respect to door 15 is comprised of a flexible cord 22 or the like which is secured atone end 23 to frame l'l, preferably at the side, piece i8, and at its other end passes over a smallpulley 24', or the like, mounted on door l5. The free. end of cord 22v may be wound over a cleat 25 which is likewise mounted on door 15. Thus, to raise or lower frame ll, that is, to change its angular positionrelative to'door l5, cord 22 is either let out or pulled taut relative to pulley 24 until the desired frame position is obtained, whereupon the slack of the cord is wound about cleat 25. It is understood that other well-known means for looking a flexible cord in place may be used instead of the pulley and cleat herein described.

One of the features of this invention is a means for obtaining a fine angular adjustment of the antenna. Instead of providing a further movement of frame [1, the fine adjustment is accomplished by means of a small auxiliary antenna mounted on frame I7. Said auxiliary antenna is secured to a second H-shaped frame 25 mounted on frame I? by means of a pivot 28-, which may be a bolt passing successively through frame ll, a spacer 29 and frame 26 to a wing nut 30. Said nut 35 serves to fix frame 2-5 in any given position. Thus frame 26 may be pivoted relative to frame ii, the axis of the pivot being substantially perpendicular to the planes of frames IT and 25.

Frame 25 is approximately one-third as large as frame I1 and is comprised of two side pieces 3! and 32, connected by a cross bar 33, through which pivot 28 passes. Like frame ll, frame 26 is preferably made of wood, composition, or other non-conducting material. The description thus far has been concerned with the frames on which the antenna proper is mounted. It is contemplated that instead of the rigid metallic structure now extensivelyused for receiving telecast signals, the present anten"- na, in one form, will be made from inexpensive flexible wire secured to a light, inexpensive fram'e. Thus, as shown in Fig. 4, the antenna proper is comprised of a pair of spaced flexible wires 46 and 4? molded in parallel relation in a flexible non-conducting strip 58. The said strip '43 is mounted on frames l7 and 26 by means of tacks 34 or adhesive securing strip 48 to the periphery of the frames.

Referring now to Fig. 5, the antenna proper has substantially the shape of the supporting frames I! and 26-, passing around the periphery l n a of each. The electrical arrangement is comprised of a continuous lead 35 which includes a branch 36 passing around the right-hand portion (Figs. 1 and 3) of side I9, a vertical part 31 and a part 38 passing around the right-hand end (Figs. 1 and 3) of side l9. The said part 38 crosses over at 39 to the other wire of the pair shown in Fig. 4 and becomes lead 48 which parallels parts 38, 3'! and branch 36 to the middle 4| of side l9 where it crosses over to the left of frame I! (Figs. 1 and '2) and continues as lead 42 around the said frame I? to the top of side l8.

- At 43 the lead crosses over again to the other of the pair of wires shown in Fig. 4 and returns parallel to lead 42 to become lead 44. The receivingset II] is connected to leads 35 and 44.

Connected in shunt to leads 35 and id is the auxiliary antenna. A conduit 45 is connected at 55130 lead 35 and at to lead 5| of the auxiliary antenna which follows around the edge of frame 26 to a point 52 near the middle of bar 33 and then crosses over at 53 to return aroundthe frame substantially parallel to lead 51.. -At 54 the lead crosses over to the 'left-hand-side of frame 26 as conduit 55, crossing over at 5.6 to the other wire of the pair and then returns-sub; stantially parallel to conduit 55 as conduit 51. At 58, conduit 5-! is connected to a lead 59 which joins lead 44 at 60. The leads 35 and 44 may terminate in an elec;- trical plug "(not shown) which in turnmaybe inserted into a socket (not shown) connected to the lead-in of the receiving'set i5. 7 I

To operate the above described antenna, the receiving set it is conditioned for operation and particularly to receive one of the known sets of telecast signals. Door 15 is then swung on its. hinges until it points in the general direction of; the telecasting station, if known, whereupon cord 22 is then freed from cleat 25 and frame I? is gradually lowered, that is, pivoted about its hinges 2| until the signal appears to be strong-- est and clearest. Frame 25 is then turned about its pivot 28 to still further clarify the image on the screen H. When the optimum position of frame 26 relative to frame I! has been obtained, as determined by the clarity of the image .on screen II, it is then set by means of wing nut 35. These adjustments may be repeat'edwhemever desired, either to change the telecastingsta-q tion or to clarify the image, if for some reason the image becomes distorted. I

It is understood that the foregoing description is merely illustrative of a preferred-embodiment of this invention. It is contemplated that the antenna may be mounted on a swinging panel. other than a door and that the door or :panel may have different locations relative to the receiving apparatus l0 than those shown in Fig. 1. Thus, the door may be considerably smallerand may be mounted directly on the receivin cabinet-i It is also understood that the material of frames 11 and 26 may be variedto suit the desires and needs of the operator of the receiving apparatus l0 and that the frames may in fact be made of rigid wires instead of the flexible wires deg, scribed above. The scope 'of this invention; therefore, should not. be limited to'the foregoing description but should be determined by theza pe pended claims. E What. is claimed is: V a 1. In combination, an antenna forreceilvi'ng ultra high frequency electrical impulses, and a support therefor, said antenna comprising-an cilantro-conductive element in the form or a loo a second electro-conductive element in the form of a loop and electrically in shunt with said first loop, means for pivotally mounting the second element with respect to the first element, said support comprising a panel coextensive with the antenna so as to conceal said antenna, a fixed structure adjacent the panel, means for pivotally mounting the first element on the panel and means for pivotally mounting the panel on the structure, the axes of the pivotal mountings being non-parallel.

2. In combination, an antenna for receiving ultra high frequency electrical impulses, and a support therefor, said antenna comprising an electro-conductive flexible wire in the form of an H-shaped loop, said support comprising a rigid H-shaped frame for the loop, a rigid member for the frame, means for pivotally mounting the frame on the member, the pivotal mounting means being secured to one side of the H such that the said side forms an axis about which the frame can swing, a rigid structure, means for pivotally mounting the member from the structure, the axis of the last-mentioned means being substantially at right angles to the axis of the first-mentioned pivotal mounting means, and means for maintaining the frame at any desired angle with respect to the member.

3. A combination as described in claim 2, a second. flexible wire in the form of an H-shaped loop, a rigid H-shaped frame for supporting the second loop, said second loop being connected in shunt with the first-mentioned loop, and means for pivotally mounting the cross-bar of the second-mentioned H-shaped frame on the cross-bar of the first-mentioned frame, the axis of the last-mentioned pivoted mounting means being substantially perpendicular to the planes of both H-shaped frames.

4. In combination, an antenna for receiving ultra high frequency electrical impulses and a support therefor, said antenna comprising at least one electro-conductive element in the form of a loop, and said support comprising a rigid frame, means for mounting the loop on the frame, a panel, means for pivotally mounting the frame on the panel, means for maintaining a desired angularity between the frame and the panel, a rigid structure adjacent the panel, means for pivotally mounting the panel on the structure, a second electro-conductive element in the form of a loop connected in shunt with the first-mentioned element, and means for pivotally mounting said second element on the frame.

5. A combination as described in claim 4, each loop being in the form of an H.

6. A combination as described in claim 4, said first-mentioned loop and frame being in the form of an H, said secoz1d-mentioned loop being in the form of an H, an H-shaped frame for the secondmentioned loop, and means for pivotally mounting the cross-bar of the frame for the secondmentioned loop from the cross-bar of the frame for the first-mentioned loop.

RICHARD G. BOCK.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain Aug. 18, 1924 Great Britain Apr. 21, 1927 Great Britain July 3, 1930 OTHER REFERENCES I Radio Amateur News, February 1920, page 416. The Washington Times, May 31, 1924, page 17.

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